The present invention relates to an electronic flashlight having a reflector and first and second discs which may be placed ahead of the reflector for normal and wide-angle illumination of an object to be photographed, the improvement including third and fourth discs which may be placed ahead of the reflector for unilateral deflection of the light generated by the flashlight for the third and fourth discs to replace the flashlight-generated light upwardly and laterally, respectively.
A known flashlight of this type includes a cylindrically-shaped reflection unit, a reflector being rotatably supported on the reflector unit, and being pivotable from a first position for direct flashing into at least a second position for indirect flashing. There is additionally provided a reflector disc cylindrically surrounding the reflector, which is composed of two partial discs, each of the two partial discs being placeable by rotation of the cylindrical reflecting unit ahead of the reflector opening. While one of the reflector discs is made of transparent material and causes the object to be photographed to be normally illuminated, the other partial disc includes prismatic elements causing a widening or broadening of the light leaving the prismatic elements for achieving a wide-angle illumination of the object to be photographed. By means of such an arrangement, it is possible to flash selectively directly or indirectly upon the electronic flashlight being in upright position, and by changing the reflector discs ahead of the reflector, so that the flashlight is set for the requirements of a wide-angle objective coupled to the photographic camera.
It is a disadvantage of such a flashlight that it has a relatively complicated mechanical construction, which is due particularly to the pivotable construction of the reflector, the associated and relatively costly provision for feeding current between movable parts of the camera apparatus, and additionally due to the fact that indirect flashing is not possible if the camera is housed so as to produce a rectangular image, the longer side of which is upright; for in a reflector position displaced by 90.degree. with respect to the basic position of the flashlight, only light deflected by the displaced reflector is deflected, not to the generally well reflecting ceiling of the room, but is deflected laterally, the lateral walls of a room providing only rarely good conditions for light deflection.